All Abroad For The Cape Town International Jazz Festival

The ninth annual Cape Town International Jazz Festival (“CTIJF”) will take place in Cape Town, South Africa from March 28-29, 2008. This long awaited musical event will attract over twenty one (21) internationally renowned artists this year.
Scheduled to performed at the CTIJF will be some of our very jazz artist from stateside as well as other jazz artists from South African and the likes.

Some of the artists who are scheduled to perform are as follows:

Candy Dulfer was born on September 19, 1969 in Amsterdam in the Netherlands, as the daughter of tenor saxophonist Hans Dulfer Candy Dulfer (born September 19, 1969) is a Dutch smooth jazz alto saxophonist and television presenter. Dulfer began her career at the age of 12 when she played in a band with Rosa King, an American expatriate living in the Netherlands. Soon Dulfer was fronting her own band, Funky Stuff, who were invited to backup Madonna for part of her European tour. She was brought to the limelight by Prince, who introduced her to the world through his video for Partyman. This appearance led to session work with Eurythmics guitarist and producer Dave Stewart, who gave Dulfer a credit on “Lily Was Here” (the title song of a Dutch movie starring Marion van Thijn), reaching number six in the UK singles chart and number one in the Dutch radio charts in 1990. She also played with Pink Floyd at the band’s performance at Knebworth ’90 in June 1990. Candy Dulfer’s debut album, Saxuality, was released later in 1990. With her funky alto sax stylings proving popular with fans of contemporary jazz at several recently launched smooth jazz radio stations in the United States, Saxuality was nominated for a Grammy and certified gold for worldwide sales in excess of half a million. “Lily Was Here” also crossed over to the pop charts in America, reaching #11 on the Billboard Hot 100. Though Dulfer has had no other pop hits in the U.S., she has had a number of major smooth jazz chart hits, including “For The Love Of You” and “Finsbury Park, Cafe 67”.

Gerald Albright who began to make a name for himself as a sideman of great insight and musicianship, playing on albums by a wide variety of artists – including Anita Baker, Ray Parker, Lola Folana, Atlantic Starr, Olivia Newton-John, the Temptations and Maurice White. He also toured extensively with Les McCann, Rodney Franklin, Jeff Lorber, Teena Marie, the Winans, Marlena Shaw, Debra and Eloise Laws, Quincy Jones, Whitney Houston, Phil Collins, and many others. With 9 CD’s under his belt and one collaboration CD, Albright has definitely gained his place in the music world as a player, songwriter and producer. A native Californian, Gerald Albright grew up in South Central Los Angeles. After high school, he attended the University of Redlands where he received a B.S. degree in Business Management, minoring in Music. In addition to numerous appearances at clubs and jazz festivals, Albright had also been a part of the popular Jazz Explosion tours, which saw him teaming up with contemporary jazz stars like Will Downing, Jonathan Butler, Hugh Masekela, Chaka Khan, and Rachelle Ferrell, to name a few. Gerald Albright has also branched out as a TV Star to his already substantial resume. The saxman has appeared on numerous shows, such as “A Different World,” “Melrose Place,” Channels 2 and 5 “Morning News Shows,” “BET” jazz segments as well as piloting a show in Las Vegas with “Designing Women” star Meshach Taylor. Albright’s contemporary and straight-ahead collections have established the Los Angeles-based musician as one of the most prominent artists. Indeed, Albright was one of the ten featured saxophonists who performed at President Clinton’s inauguration. He was also featured at the Presidential Summit, as well as several private functions for the President.

Hiromi born in Shizuoka, Japan, in 1979, discovered jazz when she took up the piano at age six. Within a year, she was a student of the Yamaha School of Music, whose progressive approach to musical training allowed the young student to tap into her emotions as well as ma stering the technical aspects of writing and performing. Hiromi first built her reputation when her 2003 Telarc debut, Another Mind — produced by Ahmad Jamal — shipped gold in Japan (100,000 units) and won the Recording Industry Association of Japan’s (RIAJ) Jazz Album of the Year Award. Her 2004 release, Brain, won the Horizon Award at the 2004 Surround Music Awards, Swing Journal’s New Star Award, Jazz Life’s Gold Album, HMV Japan’s Best Japanese Jazz Album, and the Japan Music Pen Club’s Japanese Artist Award (the JMPC is a classical/jazz journalists club). Brain was also named Album of the Year in Swing Journal’s 2005 Readers Poll. Back in the U.S., Hiromi has been featured on the covers of Keyboard, Jazziz, Billboard and Goldmine. In 2006, Hiromi won Best Jazz Act at the Boston Music Awards and the Guinness Jazz Festival’s Rising Star Award. She also claimed Jazzman of the Year, Pianist of the Year and Album of the Year in Swing Journal Japan’s Jazz Readers Poll for her 2006 release, Spiral. Time Control is the sound of progressive jazz for the next generation. With her latest Telarc release, Hiromi continues her streak of simply timeless albums.

Javon Jackson was born in Carthage, Missouri and raised in Denver, Colorado. Music captivated the young Javon who was exposed to some of the greatest musicians in jazz through his parents’ record collection. Gene Ammons and Ahmad Jamal were early favorites. As he matured, Javon soon became captivated by the work of Sonny Stitt. Stitt, known for his prowess on both the alto and tenor saxophone, was considered one of Charlie Parker’s most avid disciples early in his career but later developed a distinctive voice of his own. Like so many other horn players today, Stitt’s music inspired Javon to pick up his irst saxophone, an alto, at a young age. More musical discoveries followed: Rollins, Henderson, Coltrane. The work of these legends eventually led Javon to favor the tenor. Honing his craft, Jackson began working professionally in local jazz clubs at age 16, playing with former Max Roach Quintet pianist Billy Wallace. In high school he also performed in the McDonald’s All-American Band. During this time, Javon met and was befriended by Branford Marsalis. It was Marsalis who encouraged Javon to attend Boston’s prestigious Berklee School of Music.

It is no flattery that The Los Angeles Times calls Kenny Barron “one of the top jazz pianists of the world”. Inducted onto the American Jazz Hall of Fame in 2005, the 64-year old pianist is a leader in his trade. Barron who served his apprenticeship with luminaries such as Dizzy Gillespie, Yusef Lateef and Stan Getz, brings to Cape Town a Japanese bassist Kiyoshi Kitagawa and Cuban drummer Francisco Mela. Kitagawa is known for his work with his fellow countryman, Makoto Ozone. The percussive Mela has been creating waves as a member of the Joe Lovano Quartet When Barron takes on a ballad he can make his audience weep as he bends lucidly his chords. Equally, the retired Rutgers University professor of jazz piano can put fire underneath those who are listening to him play. His explorations of Brazilian rhythms in albums such the 1993 Sambao and 2002 Canta Brasil are proof of Barron’s versatility and deftness in his touch. It is no flattery that The Los Angeles Times calls Barron “one of the top jazz pianists of the world”. Inducted onto the American Jazz Hall of Fame in 2005, the 64-year old pianist is a leader in his trade. Barron who served his apprenticeship with luminaries such as Dizzy Gillespie, Yusef Lateef and Stan Getz, brings to Cape Town a Japanese bassist Kiyoshi Kitagawa and Cuban drummer Francisco Mela. Kitagawa is known for his work with his fellow countryman, Makoto Ozone. The percussive Mela has been creating waves as a member of the Joe Lovano Quartet.

Jazz guitarist Kunle Ayo’s virtuosity with the strings has earned him several musical accolades and even comparisons, with giants of the contemporary school like George Benson, Earl Klugh and locally-based Jimmy Dludlu. His guitar work pulls at the heart-strings – soulful as it is cheerful, funky as it is jazzy. Brought up in a devout Christian household, it was logical that he would join a gospel band, De Cross and after completing his accountancy studies in 1996, The Compassion Band, the latter, which proved to be an influential outfit that exposed him to the big time. By the late nineties he was part of Lagos’s musical mainstream as a groundbreaking guitarist who was experimenting with cool/fusion styles made popular by artists like George Benson and Jonathan Butler while at the same time drawing inspiration from indigenous styles such as Juju, Highlife and Afro-Beat – the latter a traditional/jazz blend that was invented by the late Fela Kuti. By 2000 Kunle was recording and playing with some of Nigeria’s internationally respected artists, including Chief Ebenezer Obey, Kayode Olajide and the enigmatic Lagbaja (The Masked One) with whom he toured Europe, North Africa and South America. He runs his own company, KCool Productions, and has produced music for talented acts like MXO, Mac Jays, Peggy, Dudu Ndlovu, Mayé and a host of others.

Lee Mack Ritenour, 11 January 1952, Los Angeles, CA, USA. The prolific Ritenour has established himself as one of the world’s leading jazz guitarists with a series of accessible albums over three decades. Starting at the age of 16, Ritenour played his first session with The Mama’s and the Papa’s. Two years later he was backing Tony Bennett and Lena Horne at L.A.’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Know as “Captain Fingers,” Ritenour became a sought-after session player in the mid-70’s. Starting in 1976, at the age of 24, he began his own solo career which now includes over 30 albums and collaborations. Although heavily influenced in his early days by the relaxed styles of Wes Montgomery, Joe Pass and Barney Kessel, he now has his own distinctive sound and fluid style. His list of session work is awesome (some 3,000 sessions), but some of his notable performances were with Herbie Hancock, Steely Dan, Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Rollins and Pink Floyd. Since the mid-80’s Ritenour has been strongly influenced by Brazilian music. Along the way, Ritenour has received 17 Grammy nominations, earned several gold albums, numerous #1 spots in guitar polls and the prestigious “Alumnus of the Year” award from USC. In 1981, he scored the pop15 hit “Is It You,” featuring vocalist Eric Tagg, which has also become a smooth jazz radio classic. He joined GRP Records in 1985 after recording for Electra the previous 7 years. At that time, he recorded the magnificent “Harlequin” album with GRP co-owner Dave Grusin. It was nominated for 4 Grammy”s and won 1 that year.

One of Brazil’s most international musicians, Sergio Mendes was born in Niterói (Rio de Janeiro) and started taking piano lessons as a child, switching from classic to jazz in his youth. In the beginning of the 60s, Mendes started playing jam sessions at nightclubs. He competed in jazz festivals and was leader of the Brazilian Jazz Sextet (who recorded with Cannonball Adderley), who soon turned into Sexteto Bossa Rio, playing the Carnegie Hall Bossa Nova Festival, in 1962, in New York. The 1964 album made by Sergio Mendes & Bossa Rio, arranged by Tom Jobim, is considered fundamental for bossa nova. Still in the 60s, he toured many countries with different groups before rounding up Brazil 66, with whom he made records and very successful tours. The album “Herb Alpert Presents Sergio Mendes & Brazil 66” sold over a million copies, with Jorge Ben’s “Mas Que Nada” hitting the top of the charts in North-America. He played at the White House in 1967 and has made many albums, both solo and with his groups, always mixing bossa nova with jazz and Brazilian rhythms, international musicians and including songs like “Ponteio” (Edu Lobo/ Capinam) e “A Banda” (Chico Buarque). He won a Grammy in 1993. Immediately after college, Albright began to master his talent by working extensively in the studio with such artists as Patrice Rushen, Anita Baker, Ray Parker, Jr., Lola Folana, Atlantic Starr, The Winans, Olivia Newton-John, The Temptations, and Maurice White. He also toured with Les McCann, Rodney Franklin, Jeff Lorber, Teena Marie, Marlene Shaw, Debra and Eloise Laws, Quincy Jones, Whitney Houston, Phil Collins, and many others. In addition to numerous appearances at clubs and jazz festivals, Albright had also been a part of the popular Jazz Explosion tours, which saw him teaming up with contemporary jazz stars like Will Downing, Jonathan Butler, Hugh Masekela, Chaka Khan, and Rachelle Ferrell, to name a few.

Born in Benin, a small country of West Africa, Lionel Loueke first picked up percussion instruments before choosing guitar at the age of 17. In 1990, he moved to Ivory Coast for a general musical training in the “National Institute of Art” which lasted four years. As he was listening to outstanding jazz musicians such as Wes Montgomery, Joe Pass, George Benson, he was definitely convinced that he needed to improve his playing. The next step would be to enroll in a well known jazz school. In 1994, he was accepted at the “American School of Modern Music” in Paris (France) where he got his Diploma in 1998. The dreams were coming true. In 1999, he was awarded a scholarship to “Berklee College of Music” in Boston, Massachussetts. He quickly graduated in 2000 majoring in Jazz Performance. In 2001, he auditioned for the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, and was selected in a world wide search by a panel of judges including jazz legends Herbie Hancock, Terence Blanchard and Wayne Shorter. He studied on this full scholarship at the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, until May 2003. In 2002, while still at the Monk Institute, he stated playing with trumpet player and film music composer Terence Blanchard. He recorded two albums with him, the second one on the famous Blue Note label. Between 2003-2006, Lionel lives in New York and plays around the world. He played onTerence Blanchard last CD and DVD “Flow”. Also on Herbie Hancock’s last CD and DVD “Possibilities”. He also recorded two CD’s under his own name: “In A Trance” and “Virgin Forest” on the labels Space Time and Obliqsound.

Najee is one of contemporary jazz’s true pioneers. Creating a fresh and pulsating “rhythm and jazz” dynamic in the early days of the smooth jazz format, the versatile saxophonist—whose first two recordings, 1986’s Grammy nominated Najee’s Theme and 1988’s Day By Day, went platinum—inspired the whole urban vibe that took over the instrumental world throughout the ’90s. Recording on Heads Up International since 2005, he continues to explore new creative avenues by mixing up his trademark soulful soprano with dynamic touches of flute and alto, and surrounding himself with some of the best session players and collaborators in the business.

Midón was born in Embudo, N.M., to an Argentinean father and an African-American mother. A passionate music lover for as long as he can remember, Midón started playing drums at age 4 before shifting his focus to the guitar. He turned down a scholarship in creative writing offered by the University of New Mexico after being selected by the University of Miami for its highly regarded jazz program. Staying in Miami after graduating, Midón became an in-demand backup singer, working primarily on Latin projects for artists like Julio Iglesias, Shakira and Alejandro Sanz, while moonlighting as a club performer, sprinkling the requisite cover songs with the original tunes he was starting to write. On the city’s stages, he diligently honed his craft as a singer, writer and guitarist, developing a syncopated, flamenco- and jazz-infused approach to the steel-stringed acoustic. In 2002, when Midón felt he was ready, he walked away from his lucrative profession in order to pursue a solo career in New York City. “I wanted to become an artist and do what I wanted to do instead of being someone else’s hired gun,” he explains. When Midón performed for the legendary producer/arranger Arif Mardin, fresh off the recording of Norah Jones’ breakthrough album, Come Away With Me, he offered the newcomer a deal on the spot-it would be the final signing of Mardin’s long career. Raúl readily accepted, eager to form a partnership with the highly skilled veteran and with Arif’s multi-instrumentalist son Joe. Father and son co-produced State of Mind, which garnered critical accolades for its heady fusion of old-school soul, timeless pop, Latin, jazz and the singer/songwriter idiom. Intrigued by what the youngster was cooking up, Wonder himself appeared on one track.